INTRODUCTION xxxvii 



The portraits of Webster and Ashburton that 

 hang on the walls of the State Department 

 at Washington commemorate two negotiators 

 whose happy co-operation solved a problem the 

 solution of which might, in the hands of lesser 

 men, have been remitted to the sword. On that 

 occasion both the United States and Canada 

 were displeased, the press of each declaring that 

 its representative had conceded far too much. 

 That has almost always been said in both coun 

 tries alike when any compromise was made. 

 But the outer world and posterity have ap 

 proved the compromise. Neither American nor 

 British interests were always in the keeping of 

 men so tactful and prudent as Webster and 

 Ashburton. There were moments when the 

 stiff and frigid attitude of the British foreign 

 secretary exasperated the American negoti 

 ators, or when a demagogic secretary of state 

 at Washington tried by a bullying tone to win 

 credit as the patriotic champion of national 

 claims. But whenever there were bad manners 

 in London there was good temper at Washing 

 ton, and when there was a storm on the Poto 

 mac there was calm on the Thames. It was 

 the good fortune of the two countries that if at 

 any moment rashness or vehemence was found 



